5. Sentences on the big picture
In these two chapters of Kozol’s masterpiece, he talks about how the surroundings of a student can affect his/her performance and determination. In the elementary schools in Oklahoma City and California, he observed students in cramped, dirty, and uncomfortable their school was dirty, dingy, and run-down. When students feel unimportant and unappreciated due to the resources they are provided with, their performance inevitably lacks in high achievement. As well, he tells that there are, in fact, schools in the urban areas that are still full of life and discovery with the children. He calls these surviving schools “treasured places.”
4. Key Passages
1. “There is no misery index for the children of the apartheid education. There ought to be; we measure almost every other aspect of the lives they lead in school” (163).
2. “You have to do what children do and breathe the air the children breathe. I don’t think there is any other way to find out what the lives that children lead in school are really like” (163).
3. “In this setting, teachers do not tend to let concerns about our nation’s competition in global marketplace intrude upon the more important needs of childhood, such as the right to find some happiness in being children” (286).
4. “What, we may ask, is missing from this purely economic explanation of the motives that bring thousands of unselfish men and women into public schools each year and lead many to remain within these schools and classrooms during the full course of their career? One thing it lacks is any recognition of the role of altruistic and protective feelings, empathetic fascination, love of children, love of learning in itself, with all the mysteries ad all the miracles and all the moments of transcendence” (296).
3. Key Terms
1. per-pupil funding (164)
2. overcrowding (171)
3. basket-weaving – in reference to liberal educations received by teachers (286)
2. Connections
1. Hearing about the trailers made me think of when our school was under construction and some classes had to have class in temporary buildings behind the school. I, fortunately, did not have to spend any time in the temporary buildings, but I constantly heard about students’ performance in them. Students in my school were only in the temporary classrooms for a maximum of a month, but teachers dreaded each day as the students complained of discomfort and were easily distracted. I was appalled when I read that students were in these trailers for entire school years. I cannot imagine how underprivileged the children felt, how unimportant they felt, and how difficult it was for them to maintain their focus in such miserable circumstances. From the teacher’s perspective, I am filled with pity. Being in the trailers must be difficult because there is even more limited space and limited resources, as if it wasn’t hard enough to keep the children’s attention in the first place. (chapter 7)
2. The young teacher in the Bronx who is 22 and from the area talks about how she is fascinated with how much the children remember and observe about her appearance. When I began working at Doris Miller Elementary this year, I went through the same experience. Still, every day that I am in the school children I am not even familiar with pile me with compliments about how they like my outfit, hair, etc. It first made me sad because I felt guilty for having nice things and being dressed nice when they are less fortunate, but then it made me realize something. It brought to my attention that those children look up to me and watch my every move every day that I am in their presence. With their attention strongly on my appearance and actions, I hold the power to be a positive influence upon each child’s life in that school.
1. Question
a. What will you do in your classroom to make it a “treasured place”?
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I liked what you said about the "treasured places." I think every teacher should strive to make their classroom a "treasured place" because it makes the students feel important and loved, and that can have a huge impact on their learning. If they feel like they don't matter, then they most likely will not enjoy school or learning, and may not be as successful.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful question!
ReplyDeleteI assert that we as teachers must be the "best and brightest" in our communities. Teachers must not only understand the science of teaching (theory) but also the art of teaching (practice). We must commit ourselves to meeting the individual needs of each of our students in our classrooms. Teaching is hard and time consuming work. Therefore, we must commit ourselves to providing developmentally apporpriate and culturally responsive curriculum and instruction for our students.
To achieve this task we must be fearless in the face of the challenges and communal in our approach. Meaning - pooling our individual gifts and talents with those of other teachers and members of the community to impact the minds and lives of the children in our classroom.
We must also hold our elected officials accountable to the people who elect them (US). When we embrace the responsibility to hold our elected officials accountable it is then that they will be accountable. When we as teachers become not only active inside of our classrooms but also in our communities we will be heard by the policy-makers and quite frankly feared by those who depend upon us for the votes that keep them in office.
It does seem odd that in the richest nation with the most well educated population that we would actually still allow an achievement, opportunity, economic gap to exist in our schools and communities. Essentially it comes down to priorities. We should ask ourselves each day "what have I done today to close the gap between the haves and have nots."
I live by the mantra - "think globally - act locally." If each of us were to embrace this philosophy the "local would become the global."